Johnny Manziel's dad fears for the fallen star's life

In August 2013, when Johnny Manziel was at the height of his college football mega-stardom, ESPN sent its best feature writer to Texas to profile him. Wright Thompson's resulting piece, titled "The trouble with Johnny," was dynamite.

It portrayed a young man struggling to grapple with fame and success, and a father who feared for the boy's future. Less than three years later, re-reading the words of Manziel's father back then is chilling. Why? Here's another quote, something Paul Manziel told The Dallas Morning News just this Friday.

"I truly believe if they can't get him help, he won't live to see his 24th birthday," Paul Manziel said.

The hits keep coming for Manziel, who won the Heisman Trophy as a Texas A&M freshman in 2012 and was drafted into the NFL in 2014. Just this Thursday, Dallas' local ABC affiliate published a report citing sources familiar with the police report about an altercation between Manziel and his ex-girlfriend on Jan. 30. The details, which Manziel has publicly denied, are unverified but ugly, alleging that he beat his ex and threatened to kill them both.

That report follows what has been a disastrous NFL career for Manziel since he slipped to the 22nd overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft. After achieving folk hero status in Texas as a high school and college football legend, Manziel has struggled to adjust to the speed of the NFL game. Off the field, he has not fared any better, being repeatedly reprimanded for a lack of work ethic and focus.

When outrageous rumors surrounded Manziel following the New Year's weekend, he was cut loose by LeBron James' marketing agency. This Friday, Manziel's agent told the Morning News that he, too, is cutting professional ties to the player once known as Johnny Football.

"It is with deep regret that after several emotional and very personal discussions with his family, his doctors, and my client himself, I have made the decision to terminate my professional relationship with Johnny Manziel," Burkhardt said in a statement released Friday. "Though I will remain a friend and Johnny supporter and he knows I have worked tirelessly to arrange a number of professional options for him to continue to pursue, it has become painfully obvious that his future rests solely in his own hands."

And to top it all off, we have Paul Manziel saying Friday that he fears his son "won't live to see his 24th birthday." Twice in the past week, Paul tells the paper, Manziel refused to be admitted to rehab.

Most of us don't know what problems Manziel has, or doesn't have. We don't know if he really threatened to kill himself and his ex-girlfriend, as she alleges, according to the local ABC affiliate. We don't know if he was really in Vegas over the New Year's weekend, partying in a blonde wig and fake mustache while introducing himself to people as "Billy," as ESPN Las Vegas reported in January.

From the outside looking in, we don't have much focus. But report after report has come out out about him screwing up. He's been dropped by his agent and marketing reps. His dad says he fears for his safety. The Browns are expected to cut him next month, as soon as league rules permit. We might not have crystal focus, but we can get a general picture. And it does not look good.

There's a particularly poignant passage from Thompson's 2013 piece, which was highlighted Friday morning by an ESPN colleague after Manziel's father said he fears for his son's life. The section excerpted is preceded by another in which Thompson writes that Manziel's family can no longer recognize the boy they once knew, except when he's playing football.

Something's different. That much they know. A few years ago, Michelle sat on a beach with her children in California and they all agreed that tattoos didn't correspond with Texas values. She cried when she found out this offseason that Johnny had gotten inked. Had he changed? After a workout, he tried to show her his tattoo of a Bible quote from Proverbs, but she refused to look. At dinner one night this summer, she brought up Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber and how they've come undone in public. They're chasing something, but she can't for the life of her figure out what that might be, which is frightening. Is her son chasing it too?

Both his parents believe he won't return for another season in College Station, and until he leaves, they can give love and support and pray that Johnny Football doesn't completely devour Johnathan Manziel.

"Yeah," Paul says one evening, driving in his car, "it could come unraveled. And when it does, it's gonna be bad. Real bad."

Has it come unraveled yet? Manziel's 24th birthday is Dec. 6 — which is 10 months from now. Here's hoping gets the help that by all indications he desperately needs.

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